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Alabama coach Nick Saban appreciates LSU's style of play

Jeremy Hill : LSU vs. Florida

LSU Tigers running back Jeremy Hill (33) is part of the hard running style of football LSU coach Les Miles and Alabama coach Nick Saban appreciate.
((Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

Alabama coach Nick Saban is still despised among a large segment of LSU's fan base. The feeling is not so mutual, at least when the teams play, as they will at 7 p.m. Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

After several games of playing against no-huddle, spread-option teams, LSU is a welcome sight for Saban, the former Tigers coach (2000-04). It's because when it comes to football, he and LSU coach Les Miles are like distant cousins rather than bitter enemies. Both men are from Big Ten Country where defense and a strong running game are valued commodities.

"I like this kind of football," Saban said on Wednesday's SEC coaches' teleconference. "This is more the kind of football we grew up with. The team has two-back runs, which you hardly ever see any more, it's one of the most effective ways to play football in my opinion."

The style includes big, strong running backs who pound the ball between the tackles with inside running, and strong defensive play. Both Alabama and LSU employ that philosophy to an extent, although both have capable passing attacks.

Saban ignited a bit of controversy in the sidebar war between football styles last year. He suggested the hurry-up, no-huddle offenses don't allow for enough rest and can lead to injuries from player exhaustion. It hasn't hurt the Tide this season. Alabama survived an offensive onslaught from Texas A&M to win 49-42 and then shut out Ole Miss, another no-huddle, up-tempo team, 25-0.

LSU players have remarked that they enjoy teams that like to come "downhill" rather than those that spread the field and use zone-read runs and all manner of passes. That's how Florida plays and LSU defeated the Gators 17-6 before falling to Ole Miss, 27-24, a week later.

Miles appreciated a reporter who referenced the Alabama-LSU-Florida style as "A-gap football," alluding to the offenses that use a lot of runs into the middle of the line.

"It seems like an A-gap game," Miles said in response. "Much is decided in the trenches with the big guys vs. the big guys.

"There's speed on the field. In many instances space is specific to what the big guys can make for the running back. Space is a premium in this game. It's one where the throwing game creates space, a well-blocked play creates space and the two quality defenses on the field will have to close that space."